December 13, 2012

Happy Holidays

As Congress continues to debate alternatives to the fiscal cliff, including how to avoid estate tax exemption amounts falling to $1 million and a 55% estate tax, some of the Country’s wealthiest citizens are proposing their own solutions. According to Bloomberg, Warren Buffett and others, including Bill Gates, Sr., and Richard Rockefeller, are advocating exemption amounts around $4 million and escalating tax rates, depending on the amount of wealth.

Bloomberg also reported that, if the exemption amount stays the same in 2013 ($5,120,000.00), there would be an estimated 3,600 taxable estates this coming year. On the other hand, if President Obama’s plan went into effect ($3.5 million exemption per person), the number of taxable estates would double to 7,200. If we fall off the fiscal cliff and exemption amounts revert to $1 million as scheduled in 2013, an estimated 2% of the people dying in 2013, or 55,200 estates, would owe taxes.